1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a passenger protecting apparatus for a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a driver applies the pre-crush brake, which is defined as a rapid braking to avoid a car collision, then if the passenger on the passenger seat of the vehicle is not wearing a seat belt he will tumble forward in an unrestrained manner. If a passenger side air bag is unfolded immediately after the pre-crush braking operation, there is the possibility of injury, since the upper body of the passenger will be located in the vicinity of the deployment door for the air bag.
From this point of view, there is proposed a passenger protecting apparatus which is adapted so as to inflate the air bag at a more moderate speed (referred to "TAILORED" mode) than a normal speed (NORMAL mode) under a situation that the passenger exists in the vicinity of the deployment door at the time of vehicle's collision.
In the above apparatus, it is necessary to detect a position of the passenger at the vehicle's collision in order to select the inflating speed of the air bag in either NORMAL mode or TAILORED mode in accordance with the passenger's position just before inflating the air bag. Under a situation, there have been a variety of proposals as means for detecting the seating position of the passenger and the condition of the seat, hitherto.